Verizon to Launch LTE Nov. 15? (GigaOM)

New Sybase mobile database key to SAP's plans (IDG via Bloomberg Business Week)

Electrocution kills Comcast worker (Delco Times)

Comcast Says It Has Resubmitted Data to FCC
‘Shot Clock' on NBCU Deal Could Be About to Resume
(Multichannel News)
That was fast(five days)!


Comcast promises to add Latino to board of directors as part of outreach effort (LA Times: Company Town)

Hulu unveils subscription service
Is the site's $10-a-month offering a threat to cable or Netflix?
(MSN Money)

Heartland ramps up first end-to-end encryption
Heartland resonds to major data breach
(Network World)

Watch Worldwide Social Media Day Live Streams (Mashable)

Microsoft hires Philadelphia lawyer Howard to head litigation (Philadelphia Business Journal)


Daily Links 6/28/2010: Conshohocken's CardioNet sees shares fall on Medicare reimbursement news

Qlik Technologies Sets IPO Terms (PE Hub)
Planned pricing would put market cap in $600-700 million range.

CardioNet Shares Down; Push For Broader Medicare Coverage Fails (Dow Jones Newswires via Fox Business)
Down 15% for the day.

Kenexa Puts Its Pieces Together (Human Resource Executive Online)

Canoe Launches Clickable 30-Second Ads With Comcast, TWC
Cable Joint Venture Debuts RFI Overlays With Unnamed Networks, Advertisers
(Multichannel News)

Phila. tours? There's now an app for that (Philadelphia Inquirer)

The Supreme Court Punts On Business Method Patents (TechCrunch)
Decision in Bilski case.

Clearwire Expands 4G Wireless Service (Information Week)

Infor buddies up with Microsoft (IDG via Bloomberg Business Week)

ExpertPlan Expands Into 401(k) Retirement Plan Consulting (PR Web)


Consumer 10.0: Wharton case illustrates the value of branding
(Philadelphia Inquirer)

Powering N.J.: PJM control center in Pennsylvania governs electric transmission in 13 states (Newark Star-Ledger)


Standards, Stacks and Mergers: The SQL Backstory
(Dr. Dobbs)


Philly-area companies Thermo Scientific, ProtonMedia, NextDocs win Microsoft Life Sciences award

Philly-area companies dominated Microsoft's Life Sciences Innovation Awards 2010, announced at the Drug Information Association's annual meeting in Washington DC on June 16. Three of the four projects honored involved local companies.

Thermo Scientific of Philadelphia worked with Emory University to install its Nautilus LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System) as part of an enterprise biospecimen management system rollout to enhance workflow, foster collaboration and effectively manage samples. ProtonMedia of Lansdale partnered with Merck to develop customized "virtual meeting" technology. And NextDocs of King of Prussia helped the Stanford University Medical Center automate its Event Discovery (EDR) process using NextDoc's Microsoft SharePoint-based solutions.

Microsoft says the awards "honor pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies that demonstrate new solutions or the successful application of available software and devices to revolutionize medicine, bring therapeutic breakthroughs to market faster, fight serious ailments, improve health and enhance people’s quality of life".




permalink


Penn leads area organizations on Computerworld's "100 Best Places To Work In IT"

Computerworld has named its 2010 100 Best Places To Work In IT, and as usual the University of Pennshylvania is ranked right near the top, at #5.

Others are Campbell Soup (16), The Vanguard Group (35), Lehigh
Valley Health Network
(36), Temple University (53), and American Water of Vorhees (94).

Penn was recognized for, among other things, its new open-source/open-standard voice-over-IP system to replace the existing one and deliver unified communications, and a multiyear initiative to replace Penn's printed directory with an online-only version.

Campbell's was lauded for its heath and wellness programs, Vanguard for its in-house training, Lehigh Valley Health for a strong community service culture, Temple for its huge computer lab and its employee tuition breaks, and American Water for its embrace of new technologies.

Among these six area organizations Vanguard is by far the largest IT employer, having over 2400 employees classified as such.


Daily Links 6/24/2010: iPhone 4 Seekers Swamp Local Malls

iPhone 4 Seekers Swamp Local Malls (Fox29)

Oracle Profit Jumps 25% to Beat Street Estimates (Daily Finance)
Oracle Q4 turns in strong revenue and earnings (ZDNet Blogs)


EU Seeks Outside Opinions on SAP-Sybase Deal (PC World)

Unisys plans for St. Louis facility, add 300 jobs (Associated Press via Bloomberg Business Week)

Clearleap, Roku Shop Web Video Combo to Cable (Light Reading Cable)

FCC stops time clock on NBCU-Comcast review (The Hill)

NBC Universal Decides Not To Sell ShopNBC Stake On Weak Stock (Dow Jones Newswires via NASDAQ.com)

Exciting FanGamb Changes, Moving to Europe
(Robert Shedd)
Former DreamIt Ventures startup.

Health IT Boot Camp To Accelerate Professional Certification
The five-day crash course in health IT and e-medical records can lead to professional certification for IT pros and clinicians.
(Information Week)
To be conducted by Trevose-based Training Camp.

FreedomPay surpasses 1,000 client milestone since launching its FreeWay™ Transaction Gateway in 2009
(Business Wire)

SAS buys maker of police software (Raleigh News & Observer)
Claims Philadelphia police, Delaware and Pennsylvania state police as customers.




permalink


Daily Links 6/23/2010: Evolved Capital launches beta app targeting Venture Capital Ecosystem

Comcast's ThePlatform Reaches For IP-Connected TV Devices
Integrates With Over-the-Top Services From TiVo, Roku, LG, Boxee, Others
(Multichannel News)

Parties still far apart in US Internet talks-source
* More talks scheduled for Wednesday
(Reuters)

FCC Takes Beating Over Closed Door Net Neutrality Meeting
Transparency and documentation is either important -- or it isn't.
(Broadband Reports)

Fitch cuts rating on Liberty Media unit (Associated Press via Google News)

SAP Labs Is Hiring Up to 300 in Palo Alto (eWeek Blogs)

SAP's McDermott Sees No Big Acquisitions After Sybase (Bloomberg)
Doesn't quite jibe with what co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe said in prepared remarks for the SAP annual meeting a couple of weeks ago.

SAP value engineering services aim to boost SAP ROI (SearchSAP.com)

Evolved Capital Beta Launch Targets Venture Capital Ecosystem (Marketwire)


Verizon tests 10 Gbps to the home via FiOS (ZDNet Blogs)
Using Motorola's 10 Gbps GPON solution.

SAS Preps In-memory Analytic Grids (PC World)
Focusing on vertical solutions.

Startups replacing summer jobs for students (Reuters)




permalink


Daily Links 6/22/2010: IBM will ‘vigorously’ fight $100M alleged racketeering suit from Devon IT

Is Malone Planning to Go Shopping? (New York Times: DealBook)
Renewed speculation about QVC ( through Liberty Interactive) buying out HSN.

IBM will ‘vigorously’ fight $100M alleged racketeering suit from IT partner (Local Tech Wire)

The Neat Company Raises $2.75 Million (PE Hub)
Edison Ventures' total investment in Neat now $15.5 million.

Verizon Canceling Wholesale FiOS?
DSLExtreme tried, failed to renegotiate new contract
(Broadband Reports)

Global CIO: An Open Letter To Apple CEO Steve Jobs
(Information Week)

Newspapers' owners choose Philadelphia Media Network Inc. as company's new name (Philadelphia Daily News)

Study: Pennsylvania slow in Internet speed (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)


NBC's John Miller To Concentrate On Comcast/NBCU Integration
Veteram CMO Will Hand Off Marketing Duties For TV Group To Adam Stotsky
(Multichannel News)

EarthLink opposes Comcast acquisition of NBC (Associated Press via Forbes)
Earthlink left Philly high and dry, as I recall.

Clearwire Raises $290M in Rights Offering (PC World)

Fiberlink Communications rolls out cloud-based patch-management service (ZDNet Blogs)
Fiberlink is based in Blue Bell.

After Four Months In Private Beta, Salesforce Chatter Finally Arrives As A Public Conversation (TechCrunchIT)

Enterprise-Software Makers Taking Cues From Facebook, Twitter (Dow
Jones Newswires via NASDAQ.com)

Dow Electronic Materials to Expand TMG Capacity to Serve LED Market (Business Wire)




permalink


More on Devon IT lawsuit against IBM

Devon IT lawsuit filed against IBM and four of its executives in the Eastern Districtof Pennsylania (pdf).
See original post here.


Liberty Media to separate businesses; Implications for QVC, TruePosition and Atlanta Braves

John Malone's Liberty Media said yesterday that it will split off its Liberty Capital and Liberty Starz units from Liberty Interactive, which controls West Chester-based QVC. Liberty Capital includes Berwyn-based TruePosition, which primarily uses cell tower triangulation to identify mobile phone locations, and the Atlanta Braves, two companies that do not really fit together, as well as interests in other media properties. Liberty Interactive will become an "asset-backed" company rather than function as a tracking stock; tracking stocks (which are one of my pet financial peeves) do not actually own the underlying assets of the businesses they reflect.
I think this deal will open up new strategic possibilities for QVC, TruePosition and the Braves. Baseball people have always speculated that Liberty's ownership of the Braves, who were acquired as part of a deal with Time-Warner in 2007, would be short-term.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Morgan Stanley analyst Ben Swinburne as saying the transaction was "a vote of confidence in the stability of QVC."


2010 Healthcare Informatics 100 named

Healthcare Informatics has released its 2010 Healthcare Informatics 100, and as to be expected companies from the Philly region have a strong presence on it.
HCI ranks Malvern's Siemens Healthcare #7 with estimated 2009 revenue of $1.4 billion. Also ranked in the top 100 are Medquist of Mount Laurel (28), NextGen Healthcare of Horsham (29), Elsevier of Philadelphia (44), Apollo Health Street of Conshohocken (48), Passport Health Communications (55), whose Healthworks division is located in King of Prussia, Vitalize Consulting Solutions of Kennett Square (66), RCM Technologies of Pennsauken (78), and Portico Systems of Blue Bell (97).
Many others on the list have a significant presence in the area.
Expect more M&A activity among this group over the next year (such as the recent Allscripts-Eclipsys deal) as companies seek to strengthen their competitive positions and add more integrated capabilities as the rampup of spending from Healthcare IT stimulus funding accelerates.


Welch’s Book Gives The Many Paths To Success (The Bulletin)


Devon IT accuses IBM execs of "Ponzi scheme"

The Courthouse News Service is reporting that Devon IT, the thin client systems provider based in Devon, has filed a RICO complaint against four IBM executives. Devon IT accuses them of "orchestrating a widespread Ponzi scheme, in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ('RICO'), over a period of nearly five years, involving the direct solicitation of $12 million in investment money from Devon for two information technology projects".
IBM continued to seek additional funding for one project even after it had cancelled it internally, while using funds received from Devon to improperly inflate its own divisional financial results, according to the complaint. Devon IT claims it had to layoff more than 60 employees due to the negative impact on the company.
More to come.


Daily Links 6/17/2010: Philly Fed monthly outlook survey raises questions

Sprint: Should It Buy The Rest Of Clearwire? And Could It? (Barrron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Is WiMAX 802.16m doomed? (FierceWireless)

T-Mobile Extends HSPA+ Ahead of the Data Demand Wave (GigaOM)

NBC Keeps Part of the Hulu/Boxee Story a Secret (All Things Digital: MediaMemo)

FCC Advances Internet Rules Plan Over Opposition Led by AT&T
(Bloomberg Business Week)
FCC votes to seek comment on its new legal strategy (Washington Post: Post Tech)

Status of Written Confirmations From Comcast (New York Times: Bucks)

Philly regional manufacturing growth slows in June (Associated Press via Google News)
June 2010 Business Outlook Survey (Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia)

Fed staffer proposes giant financial instrument database (Reuters)
Proposal comes from staffer at Philly Fed.

Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Waiting Period Expires for SAP's Acquisition of Sybase, Inc. (PR Newswire)

SAP goes Facebook with social network dashboard (ZDNet Blogs)

InfoLogix accounting firm McGladrey & Pullen resigns (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Thoughts on Invite Media (Cogblog)

Boomi Suggest - The Power of Multi-Tenancy (The Boomi Blog)



permalink


Daily Links 6/14/2010: Comcast looking to Pace set-top box with Intel processsor

NTT DATA and Intelligroup Enter Into Definitive Merger Agreement (PR Newswire)
Intelligroup, which specializes in SAP implementations, is based in Princeton.

Has Cablevision Thrown Another Curve Ball? (Wall Street Journal: Deal Journal)

DirecTV's CEO Wary Of Comcast-NBC Deal (Investor's Business Daily)

Comcast: New Way on Tru2way
Next-Generation Box From Pace Runs On Intel Processor
(Multichannel News)

Unisys moves HQ, outsources some IT guys (Philly.com: Philly Deals)


GPU Computing for GIS (Azavea Labs Blog)

Firms using social media
It's a way to keep in constant contact with customers, clients, employees and others around the world.
(phillyBurbs.com)

BioClinica Unveils Platform for Integrated Clinical Operations Based on Microsoft Technologies (Business Wire)

Philly Give Camp Summary
(Danny Diaz)




permalink


Philly Tech Tidbits

At the Barclays Capital 2010 Global Communications, Media and Technology conference in New York in late May, Comcast CFO Michael Angelakis said his company is not necessarily looking to acquire more CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers) for its business services strategy despite having acquired one CLEC and another that wholesales into the CLEC market in recent months, according to Multichannel News. "Every banker in the country comes into Philadelphia and wants to sell us a CLEC, and it's ridiculous," Angelakis said. "We have no interest in really being aggressive on the acquisition side related to CLECs."

My favorite name of a Comcast executive: Jorge D. (yes, JD, though I guess the J is actually soft) Salinger, VP of Access Architecture.

The Deal Magazine describes how Cleveland law firm Jones Day and its Brussels-based attorney Thomas Jestaedt played a key role in SAP AG's acquisition of Sybase, as well as other past SAP deals.

SAP's cofounder and Chairman Hasso Plattner said last week that Apple's iPad "will shape the way business is conducted", according to Bloomberg Business Week.

myYearbook of New Hope recently released its first iPhone app, based around myYearbook Chatter, a real-time location-based stream which receives over 1 million posts per day.

Anthony Mongeluzo, who built Pro Computer Services of Medford into Inc. Magazine's's 667th fastest growing company before the age of 30, wants to recognize others under 30 who are achieving simalar results. He has established the "Young Entrepreneur of the Delaware Valley" award and another for the "Innovative Entrepreneur of the Delaware Valley". Both must be under 35 and have started their businesses before the age of 30. Applications due June 30; apply at yedv.org

Philly area resident Rich Brome runs a cool website, Phone Scoop, which tracks the mobile phone business and recently conducted a comprehensive comparison of WiMAX and HSPA+ from several locations around Philly.

LEEF 2010 (Learning and Entertainment Evolution Forum) in Harrisburg this week (the 17th and 18th) sounds interesting. The conference "will explore the use of games, simulations and virtual worlds for learning and performance".


The underlying technology of QlikView (Monash Research)

Cablevision to buy Bresnan for $1.3 billion-source (Reuters)
Comcast owns 30% of Bresnan. Presumably, they could have bought the rest of the company, but with the NBC Universal deal it is obvious that Comcast is focusing on other priorities than buying additional cable systems right now.


Philly Tech People News: 6/13/2010

Comcast's Harrar Steps Down As Head Of Video Services
Exec Led Cable Operator's HD, VOD, 3DTV Initiatives
(Multichannel News)

Comcast National Customer Operations Appoints Mike DeCandido as Senior Vice President, Call Center Operations, and Tina Waters as Senior Vice President, Human Performance (Business Wire)

Shunra Names Bill Varga COO (PR Newswire)

Bentley Appoints Dru Crawley, 'Father of EnergyPlus,' as Director, Building Energy Performance Products
(PR Newswire)

Lawrence Gross leaves Synthes for Blank Rome (Philadelphia
Business Journal)

Acsis Appoints Stacy McDowell to the Position of Vice President of Worldwide Sales
Software Industry Executive Brings 25 Year Track Record of Success in High Growth Markets to Leader in Supply Chain Traceability and Visibility
(Business Wire)

Powered Names Valeria Maltoni Director of Strategy
Leading Social Media Agency Adds Further Depth to Growing Thought Leadership Team

(Marketwire)

Environmental Tectonics Corporation Announces the Opening of ETC-China; Appoints Mr. David Kong as General Manager (PR Newswire)

Precyse Solutions Hires Director of Marketing Communications
Former Siemens Health Services manager tapped to expand marketing outreach
(PR Newswire)

20nine adds Christine Petrongolo as account manager; adds new accounts (Philly Ad Club News)


Former GMAC Senior Analyst Fran Herz Joins VINtek as Operations Manager (Business Wire)


Profitable network entices Nebraska to comes on board (Allentown Morning Call)

Hollywood comes to Delco (Delco Times: The Heron's Nest)


Daily Links 6/11/2010: Comcast's Tunerfish goes live

Comcast’s Tunerfish Debuts To The Public With HBO’s True Blood Series
(TechCrunch)

Starling, the David of Social TV Apps, Facing Down Google and Comcast's Goliaths (Fast Company)


NBC affiliates tell FCC to make sure Comcast keeps sports on NBC after merger (LA Times: Company Town)

EU to decide on Comcast, NBCU deal by July 15 (Reuters)

Comcast To Shut Down TVWorks' Canada Office
Operator To Consolidate Development in Pennsylvania, California Locations
(Multichannel News)
Not sure why it took Multichannel News so long to get this story; I picked it up in late April from the London (Ontario) Free Press. Some jobs to Radnor.



Interest in SAP MII implementations up as manufacturers seek better visibility
(SearchSAP.com)

Google's Invitation To Change (MediaPost: Search Insider)

Chris Conde on Taking Steps to Prosper through the Downturn (AMA Podcast)

Herley Industries fiscal 3rd-quarter income climbs (Associated Press via Bloomberg Business Week)


Daily Links 6/10/2010: Army Experience Center in Northeast will close

Army Experience Center in Northeast will close (Philadelphia
Inquirer)

Azavea (Formerly Avencia) Awarded NSF SBIR Grant to Explore Use of GPUs for Faster Geographic Data Processing (PR Web)

Franken Grills Varney On Comcast-NBCU-Like Mergers
Assistant AG For Antitrust Assures Senator Justics Doesn't Rely On Promises
(Multichannel News)

Cablevision, Charter Among Bidders For Bresnan, WSJ Reports
(Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)
Comcast owns 30% of Bresnan.

Hulu plans to charge, expand to devices: sources (Reuters)

Google TV Is A Bigger Deal Than You Think (Forrester
Blogs)

Allscripts-Eclipsys Merger: Electronic Health Records Land Grab (Forbes: The Science Business)
This deal raises questions about how Quality Systems Inc., which owns Allscripts competitor NextGen Healthcare of Horsham, will respond.

Internet Week proves New York rivals Silicon Valley in tech savvy (Newark Star-Ledger)

GSI Commerce Founder and CEO Michael G. Rubin Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2010 Award Winner in Greater Philadelphia (Business Wire)

Search No More: PA Companies Lead Online Marketing Revolution (Keystone Edge)

Would Software AG be a good fit for SAP? (Computerworld)

Software AG, IDS Scheer Employees Face Insider-Trading Probe
(Bloomberg Business Week)

VCopious Announces SAP Software License Agreement
SAP Global Marketing unveils proprietary virtual environment software platform at SAPPHIRE® NOW
(PR Newswire)






permalink


Daily Links 6/9/2010: Google paid $81 million for Invite Media (All Things D)

Comcast lobbyist authored letter signed by Pa. representatives (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Telecom, tech giants seek voluntary net neutrality commitments (Washington Post: Post Tech)
Building Consensus: A New Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group
(Comcast Voices: Corporate Blog)

Google’s Final Price Tag For Invite Media: $81 Million (All Things Digital:
MediaMemo)
Not sure how much the cofounders will each walk away with since I think there were four of them. All Things D puts the VC investment (mostly First Round, Comcast) at less than $5 million but since they were in pretty early they might have a sizable chunk of the company.

Software AG Investor Unlikely to Accept Offers, Chief Says (Business Week)

Allscripts buying healthcare info rival Eclipsys (Associated Press via Google News)
Eclipsys, which once tried to buy Shared Medical Systems (now Siemens Health), has its Mid-Atlantic Region office in Malvern.

Andrew Stern Appointed Chief Executive Officer of SunGard Availability Services (Business Wire)

RCM Technologies adopts shareholder rights plan (Reuters)

Host Analytics Grabs $15M More for Financial Management (VentureBeat via New York Times)

Panaya Secures $7 Million in Series C Funding
Latest Investment Round Led by Battery Ventures
(PR Web)
Company's software as a service (SaaS) automates SAP upgrades.

Hercules Technology Growth Capital Announces $111.0 Million in Additional New Closed Commitments (Business Wire)
Includes an additional $1.4 million committment to InfoLogix of Hatboro, which recently said it had "initiated a review of strategic alternatives".


Sprint misstated Evo 4G sales, by a lot (Engadget)

Beige Book-Third District-Philadelphia, June 2010 (Federal Reserve Board)

Emtec Enriches Services Portfolio with Acquisition of Secure Data Incorporated
Acquisition Expands Footprint of Federal and Commercial Clients
(Business Wire)




permalink


Berwyn logistics company DF Young branches into the IT business

A. Wesly "Wes" Wyatt Jr., CEO of Berwyn-based DF Young, a global supply chain and logistics manager, was honored last month as one of the "40 under 40" (see profile) top young business leaders by the Philadelphia Business Journal (he's 32). Those named are recognized for both their business achievements and their civic activities.

But while continuing to manage the growing 100+ year old family business, the Villanova grad is also looking towards software and computer services as another path for future growth. When Wyatt and his CIO, John Luludis (formerly CIO of shipping provider DHL), began searching for a better enterprise systems solution for DF Young a few years ago, they found that the offerings from the larger vendors were either too expensive for a company of its size or not specific enough for its needs. Instead, they developed their own solution internally, and found it created added value for both DF Young and its customers. So they decided to start offering those services to others.

The result is a new company, Superior Technology Solutions. Based in Pearl River, New York, Superior's initial external customers include one of the largest automobile suppliers in the US, an international distributor of personal care & beauty products, and an international beverage manufacturer / wholesaler.

In addition to software, Superior offers managed hosting, custom software development, security consulting, and other IT services. Superior is targeting small and mid-sized companies with IT needs in the Mid-Atlantic region. Wyatt believes they can double the business each year for the next few years.




permalink


CIO.com names five Philly area organizations to CIO 100.

CIO.com named five area IT organizations to its 2010 CIO 100: the University of Pennsylvania, Centocor's R&D group based in Radnor, The Harleysville Group, Reed Technology & Information Services of Horsham, and The Vanguard Group.
Also named were London-based AstraZeneca, which has its US headquarters in Wilmington, and everybody's favorite company these days, BP.
CIO says the award "honor 100 companies that are creating new business value by innovating with technology".


Philly Tech People News 6/7/2010

Cadient Group appoints Charles Walker as Chief Operating Officer (Philly Ad Club News)

Monetate Names Bryan Eisenberg, Marketing Thought Leader, to Strategic Advisory Board (PR Newswire)


Daily Links 6/3/2010: Google confirms acquisition of Invite Media

More On Invite Media And Google; Looking At Fetchback And GSI; M&A Mayhem! (AdExchanger.com)

Google Explains Its Invite Media Buy (All Things Digital: MediaMemo)

Google’s Invite Media Acquisition Raises Conflicts of Interest (GigaOM)

CDI Corp. Proposes Acquisition of RCM Technologies for $5.20 per Share of Common Stock (PR Newswire)
A hostile bid valued at about $67.6 million.

Comcast COO: We’re Not Competing with Google TV (NewTeeVee)

Genachowski Affirms Focus on Gateway Device, Spectrum Allocation
FCC Chairman Says Cable Card Has Not Work, Apps Coming To TV Set
(Multichannel News)

No Zucker ‘Exit Package,’ But What a Bonus (The Wrap)

Former NutriSystem CEO Michael Hagan Breaks into Home Security Market
Like NutriSystem Revolutionized the Diet Category, LifeShield Security is Poised to Steal Market Share from ADT and Broadview Customers with its Direct-to-Consumer Model
(Business Wire)

The Founders Behind Diapers.com Launch Soap.com: “All The Robots Are In Place” (TechCrunch)
Diapers.com, which is based in Montclair, NJ, has several Wharton connections among its top people and was funded in part by Penn-related MentorTech Ventures.

Niche cloud computing firms in M&A spotlight (Reuters)
Kenexa named as one possible takeover target.


NetSuite surprises: launches manufacturing edition (ZDNet Blogs)

Mid-Atlantic Capital Alliance, Eastern Technology Council form PACT (Philadelphia Business Journal)




permalink


Google to buy Philly/New York-based Invite Media (All Things Digital)

Exclusive: Google Buys Invite Media (All Things Digital: MediaMemo)
No confirmation yet from either company (but its apparently a done deal).

Meet The 25-Year-Old Who Just Sold A $70 Million Company To Google (Silicon Alley Insider)


Daily Links 6/2/2010: Jobs knocks cable set-top box business

Apple's Jobs: Cable's Set-Top Box Stranglehold Stifles Innovation
Apple TV To Remains A 'Hobby' Because Of Cable
(Multichannel News)

D8: Comcast boss on NBC deal, apps and customer service (Seattle Times)

Providence Said to Seek Bresnan Sale at More Than $1 Billion
(Bloomberg Business Week)
Bresnan Communications is 30% owned by Comcast.

Sonic to Acquire DivX
Combination Creates Digital Video Delivery Powerhouse; Streamlines "Over the Top" Distribution of Hollywood Movies
(PR Newswire)
DivX has a presence in Malvern through its acquisition last year of AnySource Media.

AMETEK Acquires Technical Services for Electronics (PR Newswire)

SAP invests $10M in DeviceVM’s browser-and-cloud OS (VentureBeat)
The VentureBeat piece is slightly inaccurate; DeviceVM's press release says SAP led a $10 million round with other investors participating, not that SAP itself invested $10 million. Nonetheless, an interesting move.

Fast-growing Versus broadcasting live from Philly (Philadelphia Daily News)



SevOne Unveils the Industry's Fastest NetFlow Solution Handling 15 Million Flows per Minute for Real-Time Traffic Analysis (Marketwire)

PPL Electric Utilities Signs Contract for Federal Smart Grid Grant (Transmission & Distribution World)

Anxiety Builds Among Utilities Over the Communications Part of 'Smart' Grid (ClimateWire via New York Times)




permalink


Daily Links 6/1/2010: GSI Commerce acquires FetchBack

GSI Commerce Acquires FetchBack; Announces Reorganization of Global Marketing Services Division (Business Wire)
TechCrunch cites a source who puts the price in the $40 million range.

House Judiciary To Hold Field Hearing On Comcast/NBCU
Meeting Set For June 7 In LA
(Multichannel News)

Lockheed Martin prepares for new IT era (Washington Technology)

Asia pickup steaming ahead for Germany's SAP (Reuters)

The Future of ERP: SAP, Plex and Rootstock (Enterprise Irregulars)

University City Science Center sues Phila. Redevelopment Authority (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Piehead: Local agency offers digital solutions (Seacoast Online)
New Hampshire agency has Philly branch.




permalink